Governmental investigations

Form letter from Theodore Roosevelt

Draft of a letter President Roosevelt will send, appointing members to a commission to study the organization and efficiency of the Department of the Navy. Roosevelt’s goals for the commission include examining laws governing the Navy, divisions of responsibility, the possibility of consolidating bureaus within the department, providing military advisors to the Secretary of the Navy, ensuring accountability for appropriations, and how to ensure the Navy is militarily ready to prepare for and conduct war.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-13

Report on Cienfuegos by Frank Ross McCoy

Captain McCoy reports on the feasibility of carrying out the modified Reilly water contract in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Past experiences of Spain and the American Military Government have shown that the best way to carry out contracts in Cuba is to make the central government a party to the contract. Large-scale contracts have only been successful when they are carried out by the central government.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-08

Interview between Captain Shanton and William H. Taft

Secretary of War Taft interviews Captain George Reynolds Shanton about James M. Maguire, who has displayed poor conduct in the Canal Zone. Shanton also discusses the political situation in Panama, where it is likely that the election will be corrupt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-09

Message from the President of the United States

President Roosevelt transmits a letter from Secretary of State Elihu Root outlining an international commission between the United States and a variety of countries. The commission aims to investigate and eradicate the “opium evil.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-11

Exhibit A – Letter from William H. Taft to Charles E. Magoon

Secretary of War Taft has decided to send Frank Ross McCoy to Cienfuegos, Cuba, to report on public opinion there regarding the Reilly contract. He instructs Governor Magoon to keep quiet on the subject and reason for McCoy’s visit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-15

Exhibit C – List of names

A list of names of various people and entities interviewed in the Cienfuegos investigation. These people include presidents and secretaries of labor unions, representative men whose opinions were judged to be of special value, and people on lists assembled by several people involved with the investigation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-15

Memorandum on May & Ellis

A memorandum on an importation case involving May & Ellis in New Orleans explains that they were improperly valuing the goods they were importing. The Board of General Appraisers investigated the matter and determined the proper value of the Nottingham netting being imported. Agent T. Aubrey Byrne, who had been involved with the case, was not called to testify because Treasury Department did not feel his testimony would add enough value to justify his traveling for the hearing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-23

Memorandum on James F. Shea

A memorandum states that an impartial investigation into James F. Shea, United States Marshal for North Dakota, will show that he is traveling the state attempting to influence the results of county caucuses and conventions at the behest of party boss Alexander McKenzie. The writer of the memorandum believes that the results of the investigation, which should be conducted by an “irreproachable” man, will lead President Roosevelt to remove Shea from office. Shea’s work is “wholly unnecessary,” as North Dakota is “absolutely safe” for Secretary of War William H. Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-29

Letter from Ernest Hamlin Abbott to Theodore Roosevelt

Ernest Hamlin Abbott informs President Roosevelt that The Outlook contains an editorial paragraph on the Brownsville incident based on Roosevelt’s message and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker’s bill in the senate. Apart from noting the ineffectiveness of Foraker’s bill, The Outlook does not discuss the bill at length. Abbott has noticed that the current situation is frequently misrepresented in spite of Roosevelt’s statement of fact in his message, but observes that this frequently pushes public opinion in favor of Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-16

Additional statement by Commander A. L. Key, U.S. Navy, to the chairman and members of the Senate Naval Committee

Commander Key responds to reports by Rear Admiral George Albert Converse and Chief Constructor of the Navy W. L. Capps about the construction of American battleships compared to Japanese and British battleships. Key points out errors and inconsistencies in the reports, and argues that the water line armor belts on American battleships are incorrectly placed and not thick enough. He believes the United States needs to be building ships based on the most up-to-date knowledge about battleship construction and design. He also takes issue with the lack of battle tactics practice in the Atlantic Fleet’s maneuvers.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-21

Mellen talks of merger

An article in the Evening Post reports on a purportedly unsolicited visit by Charles S. Mellen to the White House to discuss his railroad’s planned merger with the Boston and Maine Railroads, offering his services to expedite any investigation the federal government might make into the merger. Several handwritten annotations comment on the article.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-06

Mellen hurries Roosevelt

Charles S. Mellen, president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, has met with President Roosevelt hoping to expedite a government investigation into his railroads. Mellen asserts that his company has not broken the law and argues that the government has no right to stymie the proceedings of private businesses in any case.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Mellen sees the president

The Department of Justice will not prosecute the merger of two New England railroad lines due largely to the intervention of Charles S. Mellen, president of one of the lines in question. Mellen, whom the article calls a “close personal friend” of President Roosevelt’s, met with the president privately to assure him the merger does not violate the Sherman Act and to push for expediting the investigation in the interest of allowing business to continue as necessary. Commissioner of the Interstate Commerce Commission Charles A. Prouty has already come out in favor of the merger as well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Mellen appeals to Roosevelt

President of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company Charles S. Mellen has met with President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad’s merger with another New England Line. Mellen argues that such investigations are embarrassing to businesses, hinder railroad development, and ought to be completed as quickly as possible once begun. Roosevelt has agreed to finish this investigation, but any companies that violate the Sherman Act will still be prosecuted.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Asks President to hasten probing

Charles S. Mellen has asked President Roosevelt to expedite an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger. The article notes this request comes the day after the defeat of Henry Melville Whitney, who had been in favor of the merger, in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Roosevelt and Mellen tilt on merger

Charles S. Mellen had a spirited discussion with President Roosevelt requesting that an investigation into his railroad company’s planned merger be expedited. Mellen objected particularly to the embarrassment such an investigation causes and the indignity of the merger having been a major issue in the recent Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-07

Mellen and Roosevelt

Charles S. Mellen, president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company, and President Roosevelt had an explosive private meeting wherein Mellen asked for an investigation into his company’s planned merger be expedited. The investigation had been a major issue during the recent Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-08

Memorandum regarding Ormsby McHarg

Acting Governor of New Mexico James W. Raynolds reports that Ormsby McHarg, United States Special Assistant Attorney General, and his representative Ernest P. Holcombe arrived in New Mexico and informed him that he was there to investigate acts of territorial officials, though he did not present any credentials to prove he was indeed an official of the United States. McHarg stated that he would appear in the court case of Holm Olaf Bursum, the former superintendent of prisons. In the process of relaying his intentions, McHarg threatened to involve the Department of Justice, President Roosevelt, and the press, if his demands were not met. In this and subsequent communications, McHarg accused the territorial attorney general and other officials of incompetence, ignorance of the law, and corruption. Though McHarg insisted all his communications be treated as confidential, a story appeared in the press which seems to have been planted by him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-13

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to Theodore Roosevelt

Attorney General Bonaparte sends President Roosevelt the report of William R. Harr, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, regarding the charges against United States Attorney Robert W. Breckons. Bonaparte has been dealing with this case for some time, but has ultimately come to the conclusion that retaining Breckons in his current position would be against the public interest. While Bonaparte acknowledges Breckons’s ability, he feels that he is lacking in propriety, and that his “personal habits and associations are indecorous.” This would not necessarily call for his removal, but Breckons’s conduct in a recent case was greatly out of line.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-30

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry Cabot Lodge

President Roosevelt is concerned that Democratic newspapers are crediting Assistant Postmaster General Robert John Wynne with bringing the Post Office scandal to light, instead of Postmaster General Henry C. Payne or Fourth Assistant Joseph L. Bristow. The newspapers try to blame Payne and Roosevelt, “concealing the fact” that they came into power long after the events took place.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1903-06-15